Turkey blocks hundreds of web pages about Istanbul suicide bombing

A Turkish court, acting at the request of the prime minister's office, has blocked 223 web pages containing information about last week's suicide bombing in Istanbul, which killed 10 German tourists, an internet activist said on Wednesday.

Yaman Akdeniz, a cyber-rights campaigner, published documents from a court in Ankara showing the ban took effect the day after the bombing, under new laws which allow the state to more easily block sites.

The pages affected include articles on leading news websites and a number of Twitter accounts.

Turkey's opposition has been highly critical of new laws that they say empower the government to stifle free speech and weaken the independence of the judiciary. The European Union has also been critical of the laws.

Tens of thousands of web pages are banned in Turkey, including those containing pornography and sites related to the conflict between authorities and Kurds in the south-east of the country. Sites that insult the founder of modern Turkey, Mustafa Kemal Ataturk, are also banned.

Beirut (dpa) - Syrian government forces and their allies advanced deeper into the shrinking rebel-held enclave in eastern Aleppo on Wednesday, seizing the Old City, while demanding the armed opposition groups leave the area.